This is Fighting Robots (Season 1.5)/Episode 7
The seventh episode of ''This is Fighting Robots'' aired on May 25th, 2018. It introduced the five 'challengers', who fought five robots who were still in the main competition, for the right to take their place, before advancing to competition head-to-head fights. Competing robots *008 *Dragon King *Great White *Greedy Snake *Formula *Ninja *Orby Blade *Shrederator Tiger Claw *South American Eagle God *Vulcan *White Tiger Guardian *Wrecker *Xiake Setup The episode began with the previously eliminated Vulcan from Zheng Shuang's team being reinstated by Zhang Yishan, who was short of robots for his team, and was permitted to add Vulcan to his line-up. After this, the five "Challengers" were introduced: Dragon King, Great White, Formula, South American Eagle God and Wrecker. These five robots were inspected by the celebrities, who would choose whether or not they wanted to add that robot to their team, at the expense of one of their current machines. If more than one celebrity wanted to add that challenger to their team, the competing team would choose which celebrity team they wanted to join, and their robot would battle another robot on the same team, in order to take their place in the main competition. Great White was chosen by two celebrities, as was Dragon King, while Wrecker was selected by all four celebrities. Formula was selected by three celebrities, and South American Eagle God was reluctantly chosen by only Zhang Yishan. After the Challengers had all fought, a four-way melee was organised, where the celebrities would drive one robot on their team. A roboteer had to volunteer their robot for this purpose, leading to a large argument among the Megabyte team members as to whether or not their robot should participate in the battle, and the team both accepted and declined the challenge at various stages. The winning team would gain an additional robot for their team, from the pool of eliminated robots, although the winner was not revealed within Episode 7. Battles Great White (Challenger) vs White Tiger Guardian Great White didn't move much at first as it got its weapon up to speed, allowing White Tiger Guardian to make the first strike by hitting Great White head-on with its vertical spinner, although the impact didn't seem to cause that much visible damage to Great White. As the Chinese machine backed away for another assault, driving over Remora in the process, Great White made its first attack by smashing into the side of White Tiger Guardian, ripping its entire side panel off. Turning around, Great White then made another attack this time to the back of its opponent, the impact causing the entire machine to fly into the air and land upside down. With seemingly no way of self-righting, the Chinese machine was counted out and declared immobile. This meant that Great White could then enter the competition as part of the red team. Winner: Great White Dragon King (Challenger) vs ORBY Blade Charging out towards its opponent, Dragon King immediately clashed with ORBY Blade and pushed it towards a wall. However, a quick turn by the latter meant that Dragon King didn't have any time to use either of its weapons. Getting back out to the middle of arena, the two machines spent several seconds driving in circles around each other, neither initially getting an advantage. This stalemate lasted until ORBY Blade, now at full speed, managed to get in a massive hit onto the side of Dragon King that dislodged its entire track module. Capable of driving without its left track, Dragon King made another assault at ORBY Blade, taking another hit that sent both robots flying in opposite directions. By now the lost track was obviously causing Dragon King control issues, as it drove around in circles for a short while before bumping into a wall. Managing to stabilize itself enough for a final attack, it took yet another hit from ORBY Blade head-on, but this seemed to have been too much for the machine as it didn't move afterwards, and was subsequently declared immobile, making ORBY Blade the winner, which remained in the competition. Winner: ORBY Blade Wrecker (Challenger) vs Ninja Both robots came together, and Wrecker boasted the lower ground clearance, but lost grip on Ninja. Similarly, when Ninja slammed straight into the front of Wrecker, it was buffeted into the air, while Wrecker's minibot threw flames. Wrecker was being edged towards the arena corner, and Ninja still could not breach its scoop, and Wrecker threw it backwards, but not over. Wrecker held its ground in the center of the arena, and flipped itself over, but this allowed Ninja to drive straight under it, toppling the American machine. Ninja then sought out the back end of Wrecker, causing the American machine to flip itself over, and fire its scoop as though it were an axe, on the wedge of Ninja. Despite this, Ninja continued to push Wrecker back, towards the Grinder, and then landed the first blow of its weapon, straight onto the top surface of Wrecker. Afterwards, Ninja wedged under the back of Wrecker and landed a second overhead blow. Ninja again wedged under the back of Wrecker, although its tyre caught the scoop of Wrecker, and Ninja was momentarily lifted. Wrecker's minibot was now incapable of throwing fire, and could not leave its location in the center of the arena. Ninja drove the disadvantaged Wrecker towards the Grinder, and landed another hit. In the final ten seconds, Ninja used its wedge to stay under Wrecker, hitting it once again, impressing Zheng Shuang. Time expired on the match, and Ninja was declared to be the winner. As a result, Wrecker was not added to the celebrity team, and left after only one battle. Winner: Ninja Formula (Challenger) vs 008 Entering as a 'challenger', Formula fought its fellow UK machine 008 for a chance to qualify for Sa Beining's yellow team. The two robots met each other in the middle of the arena, and sparks flew as 008's flywheel bounced off of Formula's flipper. Going on another attack, Formula then got underneath 008, but failed to flip it and had its decorative spoiler ripped away as 008 drove over it. Chasing after it some more, Formula finally managed to get its flipper into play as it threw 008 into the air, and 008 landed with a crash. As the battle continued, 008 seemed to be slowing down with fire visibly bellowing from its insides. Approaching each other tentatively, Formula once again collided with 008's still working flywheel, sending shards of the machine flying across the arena. By now, the damage sustained to Formula was becoming apparent, it as only seemed capable of driving backwards and forwards, but 008 was clearly in not much better condition. As 008 limped forwards towards the heavily damaged Formula, it seemed to wedge itself onto its own flywheel, smoke now also rising from 008. The countdown started, and since Formula was at-least showing some movement, 008 was the one declared KO'ed, despite Formula losing mobility shortly afterwards. Formula was subsequently declared the winner of the match, and got to enter the competition as part of the yellow team. Winner: Formula South American Eagle God (Challenger) vs Vulcan South American Eagle God's wedge proved to be higher than that of Vulcan's, and it was immediately pushed back by the British machine. Afterwards, Vulcan edged its way up South American Eagle God's wedge, and the vertical disc threw Vulcan over. However, South American Eagle God's spinner stopped working soon after this. Vulcan then drove under South American Eagle God and slammed it into the arena wall at high speed. Vulcan was then able to land repeated axe blows, penetrating the armor of South American Eagle God,. Vulcan also bent South American Eagle God's armor through purely ramming into the robot. Eventually, Vulcan landed a critical blow, and punctured South American Eagle God's lithium polymer battery, while Vulcan slammed South American Eagle God into the arena wall with its axe still buried in the robot. This caused South American Eagle God to catch fire, in an immediate knockout. As a result, South American Eagle God did not join Zhang Yishan's team. Winner: Vulcan Greedy Snake vs Shrederator Tiger Claw vs Xiake In this battle, all robots were driven by celebrities. Originally, no representative of Zheng Shuang's green team intended to compete, as the roboteers did not desire the prize of winning the battle - reinstating a defeated robot onto the team. John Mladenik of Megabyte's team felt sympathy towards Zheng Shuang, when Gabriel Stroud confidently told her that competing was unnecessary, and offered to enter the arena, but nevertheless the green team abstained from the battle. Greedy Snake (driven by Zhang Yishan) entered the battle with a wedge attached to its gripper, but largely held the weapon aloft to avoid damage. Shrederator Tiger Claw, at the controls of Sa Beining, immediately powered up its spinner while the other two robots held back, cautiously. Brian Nave suggested that Sa Beining hit Greedy Snake from behind, prompting Sa Beining to drive his robot straight into the arena wall. Greedy Snake (driven by Zhang Yishan) edged towards it, and Shrederator Tiger Claw threw sparks from its opponent's wedge, before crashing back into the arena wall to rip away some of the decorative spikes. While Greedy Snake was distracted, Xiake (controlled by Wu Chun) charged into the side of it, grinding at its underside while further destroying the spikes on the arena wall. Greedy Snake and Shrederator Tiger Claw eyed each other up, and eventually Shrederator Tiger Claw drove into one of Greedy Snake's wedgelets, rebounding into the air after throwing sparks. Greedy Snake edged towards the rotating Shrederator Tiger Claw, and completely resisted the spinning weapon, pressing it into the arena wall despite a constant shower of sparks being thrown from Greedy Snake's wedge. Xiake also capitalized by ramming into Shrederator Tiger Claw, throwing it from the floor and into the wall. However, Xiake drove onto Greedy Snake's wedge, and was pushed into the corner of the arena itself. Xiake had become stuck on debris which it had previously ripped from the wall, but it drove into the back of Greedy Snake and pushed it into the spinner of Shrederator Tiger Claw, also carrying it into the arena wall to slam Greedy Snake high into the air. Greedy Snake slowly edged towards Shrederator Tiger Claw, which reversed away, but Greedy Snake eventually caught up to destablize the spinner. In response, Shrederator Tiger Claw hit the side of Greedy Snake, and also threw more sparks from its wedge. Shrederator Tiger Claw attacked the front of Greedy Snake again, but was cast aside by a forward push from Greedy Snake. Suddenly, Xiake charged in and clashed with the spinner of Shrederator Tiger Claw, throwing it into a Grinder, where it recoiled straight back into the side of Greedy Snake, and Xiake also drove under Greedy Snake to hit its base. Greedy Snake shepherded Shrederator Tiger Claw back, damaging the arena wall again, but a hit from Xiake's drum threw the American machine into the air, and directly into Greedy Snake's grappling weapon, bending it. Xiake had become stuck on debris again, so Shrederator Tiger Claw hit the arena wall and bounced into Xiake, damaging the side of the machine. Greedy Snake closed in within the final ten seconds, and drove under Shrederator Tiger Claw, placing it atop Xiake's drum, and then gripped it using its snatch mechanism, when time expired on the match. The battle was sent to a Judges' decision, and this episode revealed that Shrederator Tiger Claw had lost the battle, but the winner between Greedy Snake and Xiake was not revealed until the following episode. The winner was Greedy Snake. Winner: Greedy Snake Trivia *This was the first episode where filming coincided with taping of the 2018 season of BattleBots, preventing the teams involved from competing at both events. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1.5 episodes Category:This is Fighting Robots